Taking the heat out of trouble-shooting

29th May 2014

SimSci APC 2014 software is structured around an enhanced, natural workflow that includes full support for model case file development and a connection wizard for faster integration to any distributed control system and programmable logic controller

Plant management solutions are homing in on all aspects of the process, from design to logistics.

Take, for example, version 8.4 of Aspen Technology's aspenONE software. The new version has an activated heat exchanger design and rating capability, updated energy economics, and new reactor models for refinery-based users.

Although new to the market, early users are already reaping the benefits across a range of different process applications.

"AspenTech's new Activated Exchanger Design and Rating brings a new level of ease to trouble-shooting heat exchanger operations in processes. Activation makes any exchanger issues very apparent during the process simulation. I am confident this new capability will be of immense value to my process engineering colleagues - and to me - on a day-to-day basis, helping us to operate our processes more efficiently, at lower energy cost and with greater operating reliability," said Jacobus Kloos, a process engineer with Dow.

Jay Gulotta, a process engineer with Ambitech, is also impressed: "The new delayed coker unit adds another rigorous reactor model to the Aspen HYSYS Petroleum Refining reactor suite that I can easily tune and adjust to match plant data. The robust solver provides a stable model guaranteeing accurate results."

For Dr Hans-Rolf Lausch, head of computer aided process engineering (CAPE) & automation, Evonik Industries, the new version has enabled better project collaboration: "Conceptual models are easy to use and enable Evonik's process engineers to describe solids equipment without being solids experts, allowing them to model and optimise entire processes."

First introduced in aspenONE V8 software, AspenTech's Activation capability in Aspen Plus and Aspen HYSYS enables process engineers to do instant analysis of heat exchangers, energy, and economics without specialist knowledge of these engineering disciplines. This unified engineering environment enables engineers to work more efficiently and achieve better results within tight project timelines.

From within the new Aspen Plus and Aspen HYSYS engineering environment, users can do rigorous heat exchanger design and view heat exchanger status to perform revamp studies and debottlenecking.

Activated Energy, which automates pinch analysis for non-experts, adds the ability to group process units in a flow diagram and optimise energy across the grouping. Activated Energy also identifies optimum design modifications for energy savings and automatically recommends lower cost utilities that are available.

For its part, Invensys is tackling the cost of plant testing and commissioning with SimSci APC 2014, the new version of its SimSci advanced control software. The company says this version shrinks testing and commissioning time by up to 50 per cent - as well as improving control and plant performance.

Ease of use has been a key driver for Invensys and SimSci APC 2014 modernises the graphical user interface while retaining the rigorous and robust calculation engine from the company's Connoisseur APC offering.

Enhanced natural workflow

The new SimSci APC 2014 software is structured around an enhanced, natural workflow that includes full support for model case file development and a connection wizard for faster integration to any distributed control system and programmable logic controller, including the company's Foxboro I/A Series DCS and its new Foxboro Evo process automation system. The software will be even more tightly integrated in future releases of the Foxboro Evo system (Fig.1).

SimSci APC 2014 software extends the capabilities of traditional APC offerings to garner more control over the process. Director, a powerful new feature, allows the control engineer to build custom calculations or add custom supporting controller functions that augment the user's experience.

Natural workflows speed model building, configuration and deployment, and additional features make the software suitable for a complete APC project implementation